Modern book design focuses on typography, cover art, and internal flourishes, but several hundred years ago book designers also added art to the sides of pages. This type of art is called fore-edge painting, and it refers to a painted design on the edges of book pages. When looking at the edge of a single page, it is impossible to tell what the image is supposed to be, but when all of the pages are viewed together, a coherent image.
Fore-edge paintings have a long history. In fact, they precede the invention of the printing press by several hundred years. The first known fore-edge paintings are from the 10th century. During these early years, the images were primarily symbolic or Heraldic designs that had been hand painted onto the book.
By the 18th century, however, the focus of fore-edge paintings changed. The images began to depict numerous themes including landscapes, religious symbols, erotic scenes. Though the paintings occasionally reflected a book’s contents, they more often were the result of an artist or publisher’s aesthetic tendencies. English booksellers and publishers in particular popularized fore-edge paintings, and today the majority of still existing books with fore-edge painting can be found in the UK.
If you are interested in seeing more examples of fore-edge painting, there are several wonderful library collections that you can explore. In particular, Boston Public Library has an excellent gallery of fore-edge painting. Viewing it is a great way to find inspiration and to brighten up your day. Syracuse University also has a solid write-up about its collection of fore-edge paintings. If you are looking for a more in depth analysis of this art, the article is a good place to start.
When I first worked in libraries, I never knew that these images had a specific name or historical arc. I only knew that discovering them was like finding a jewel in the book stacks. It has been fascinating to learn more about them. If you have had an encounters with fore-edge paintings or other types of art on books, let me know! I’m interested in hearing more about them.
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Image Attributions:
Torquato Tasso, translated by John Hoole, Jerusalem Delivered, Vol. 1, 1797.
Jeremy Belknap, Sacred Poetry, 1744.
John Thelwall, A Letter to Henry Cline, London: Richard Taylor, 1810.
Kristen Twardowski 
Very cool 🙂
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They really are neat!
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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So beautiful and unique. Books were works of art. 🙂
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That didn’t come out right, because they still are works of art…but you know what I mean 😀
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I do. It really is amazing the amount of time and effort people put into creating some of these.
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Intriguing. All I’ve ever seen is fore-edge graffiti.
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Ha! I’ve seen a lot of that as well. In the library, we tried to erase books that had been marked up, but you can’t erase pen. Or highlighter.
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Wow, that’s so cool!! Talk about adding an extra layer of challenge to your work. Thank you for this great post!
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The artists must have had a lot of patience! But the results of their labors are beautiful.
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I didn’t know art existed that way. The outside of the book would have been a work of art.
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It definitely would! I would love to see more modern books have design details like that.
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Intriguing. I’ve never seen this before, either.
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Some of them are quite lovely.
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There are also some lovely books that display a specific image on the page edges when opened a certain way. They are so surprising and magical.
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I have seen some of those! You have to fan the edges slightly for some of them, and the ink is just inside. I’m sure there are other examples at well. You are right though; they definitely are magical images.
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I recall seeing several examples of this artwork at several private libraries where old, valuable books are kept. I didn’t know the name of it, though. Thank you for a really interesting article:).
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It’s so lovely to stumble upon these. I have a strange impulse to try and bring them back en vogue.
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I know – that was exactly my impulse when I first read your article – but far too expensive and tricky to do, I suspect…
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Very likely.
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Reblogged this on Kate McClelland.
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Oh man! These are awesome! If this kind of thing still existed consistently, I might organize my bookshelves a little differently. :p *kind of wants to do this if I ever get published* … *not that it would make any sense on a ya book* Haha! Still very cool and obviously very intricate. Definitely adds character to a book.
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We should bring it back in style! I’m sure there is some theming that would work with a YA book…
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Hee hee! If only I were an artist, I would design these myself for my books. :p
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what a wonderful idea : I mages on book edges
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I’m tempted to try and bring it back en vogue. Now if only I can lasso a publisher who will agree with me…
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These are so neat! It’s another reason why more people should read an actual physical book instead of digital versions.
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They really are beautiful. I’m still trying to figure out a way to bring them back in style, but I don’t think the publishers are going to go for it.
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I never seen this before. I reblogged this – Thanks for sharing
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I’m glad you found it interesting!
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